What's in season in November 2018, and
other timely information:

Notes for November 2018: Autumn is here! Apples, pears,
Fall raspberries, figs, winter squash ,
corn mazes and
pumpkin patches
are here. And there are still tomatoes, corn and other
vegetables in most areas. Check your area's
copy calendar (see this page) and call your local farms for
seasonal updates.

Picking Apples: Tips and Tricks to Getting the Best Apples

Apples
are one of the easiest fruit to pick and use. They're big, not easily
bruised, most varieties store well, they can be eaten fresh, cooked, canned,
frozen and made into many tasty and healthy dishes. Apples are fat-free, low
sodium, and cholesterol-free. A bushel weighs between 42 and 48 lbs. And
if you're looking for many, many facts
about apples, see this page!

Picking tips:

Most modern apple orchards have dwarf trees that are very close to the ground -
my 3 year old finds it easy to pick apples! (photo above and below)

Select firm, bruise-free apples. The color can be anything from dark
green, to yellow, pink, orange, bright red, dark red or even a combination.
It all depends on the variety. And color is not really how you tell when
an apple is ripe. Apples should be crisp and firm.

The key will be to ask the farmer which are ripe. He will know because it
is calculated from the number of days since the trees flowered. And he
will track that date carefully , if he's a good apple grower!

The farmer will also know what characteristics to look for in the particular
varieties that he is growing.

When are apples ripe - how to tell!

Apples ripen from the outside of the tree towards the center, so the apples out
the outside of the tree will ripen first. Once they are picked, they stop
ripening. Picking apples directly from a
tree is easy. Roll the apple upwards off the branch and give a little twist;
don't pull straight away from the tree. If two apples are joined together at the
top, both will come away at the same time. Don't shake the trees or branches.
If the apple you are trying to pick drops, (or others on the tree) go ahead and
pick it up. They're perfectly fine! But do wash them before you eat them!

A visitor who grew up on an orchard says to try to leave the stem on the apples.
He says that helped them store longer!

It's all about the variety!

Of the apple, that is. You really need to choose the type of apple that is
best suited for your purpose. Apples can be suited for eating fresh,
cooking, baking, applesauce, storing, etc. I have a fairly extensive
guide to apple varieties here!

More Tips

Once picked, don't throw the apples into the baskets, place them in
gently, or they will bruise and go bad more quickly.

Keep apples cool after picking to increase shelf life. A cool
basement is ideal, but the fruit/vegetable drawer of a refrigerator will
work, too. Kept cool, fresh-picked apples will generally keep weeks, but it
DOES depend on the variety. Red and Yellow Delicious apples do not keep
well, for example; but Rome, do! High humidity helps to to keep the apples
from shriveling, but don't let them get actually wet. A wet towel placed
nearby helps to keep the humidity up. A refrigerator is fine for small
quantities of apples. Boxed apples need to be kept in a cool, dark spot
where they won't freeze. Freezing ruptures all of an apple's cells, turning
it into one large bruise overnight. The usual solution is to store apples in
a root cellar. But root cellars often have potatoes in them: apples and
potatoes should never be stored in the same room because, as they age,
potatoes release an otherwise ethylene gas, which makes apples spoil faster.
If you can keep the gas away from your apples, they will keep just fine.
Just don't store them right next to potatoes.
Prevent contact between apples stored for the winter by wrapping them
individually in sheets of newspaper. The easiest way to do this is to unfold
a section of newspaper all the way and tear it into quarters. Then stack the
wrapped apples

Nutrition and miscellaneous facts: One-half
cup of apples is only 42 calories. Apples contain no cholesterol or fat and
are also low in calories. T Apples are high in dietary fiber, Vitamin A and
niacin. They contain iron and other trace minerals and are a fair source of
Vitamin C.

Apples are ranked No. 1 in antioxidant activity compared with 40
other commercially available fruits and vegetables. That means a serving of
apples has more of the antioxidant power you need to fight aging, cancer and
heart disease.

Put this in your pipe! Indians in the Northwest Territory smoked wild
apples to preserve them for the winter. (Bet you didn't know that!)

Canning apples - fully illustrated, with step-by-step instructions

Recipes, illustrated with step by step instructions

Apple pie recipe and directions and
illustrated! I can say, with, ahem, no bias at all, that this is the
best apple pie recipe in the world! (Alright, I did have an apple strudel in
Vienna once at that place listed in Fodors that was REALLY good, but that
wasn't a pie, was it? And since this was the recipe my grandmother used, it
must be great!)

Want to make a donation?
pickyourown.org does not charge either farmers or consumers! I do all
of the programming, web design and updates myself. If you'd like to make a
donation to help me pay to keep the website going, please make a donation to me
at Benivia through our secure donation processor. Just click the button
below and follow the instructions: